Gridlock And Roundabouts: Lawmakers Discuss Traffic In Hampton Bays

There is no single answer to the traffic jams that snarl the streets of Hampton Bays and, at times, create gridlock in the hamlet.

That was the message delivered by elected officials on Monday night, March 28, as the Hampton Bays Civic Association hosted a virtual evening dubbed “Traffic: Can it be Fixed?”

On hand for the question-and-answer discussion were State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle, and Suffolk County engineers Bill Hillman and Anthony Crepo.

HBCA president Maria Hults helmed the outing, which included submitted questions from residents she put to the lawmakers and traffic experts.

Two aspects of traffic dominated the discussion: proposed development of Shinnecock Nation land in Hampton Bays, known as Westwoods, and methods for moving traffic through the hamlet more efficiently.

Officials spoke of measures such as the South Fork Commuter Connection train service, the blinking traffic light program, and the possible construction of a roundabout at the North Road and Montauk Highway intersection on the east side of the Shinnecock Canal as remedies.

Fleming said some $250,000 for an engineering study of that intersection will be included in the county’s budget this spring.

Hults noted the delays and backups near the intersection. Fleming said she experienced the delays personally during a visit to the area to see the traffic situation.

Moving to the Shinnecock Nation’s Westwoods development, Hults said she’s been “inundated” with correspondence from people fearful of extensive development on Newtown Road.

Last summer, the tribe voted to move forward with initial plans to develop a 200-room hotel and 100,000-square-foot convention center, as well as other amenities, on a 20-acre site overlooking Peconic Bay in Hampton Bays. Costing $250 million to develop, it would have a hotel as an anchor, four additional luxury villas, a wellness spa, retail space, restaurants, a tech incubator, and a 100,000-square-foot convention center that could provide facilities for everything from major conventions to small-scale business meetings.

In a separate vote, the tribe agreed to press ahead with plans to build a gas station and convenience store on a 10-acre site on the north side of Sunrise Highway near one of two monument towers erected two years ago.

The nation has also discussed plans to build a Class 2 casino on tribal land on Montauk Highway in Shinnecock Hills.

The elected officials were asked what they know of all the plan details, and none was able to shed light. Thiele said he’d heard nothing new since the projects debuted in the press last summer. The state has one role to play, he said: The Department of Transportation would have the authority to grant an access onto Sunrise Highway for the gas station and convenience store.

Town maps don’t have a zoning category for the Shinnecock land, Schneiderman noted. Whether the tribe is subject to local zoning has been a point of disagreement. The lawmaker added that the tribe could also develop Westwoods with houses — and “hundreds of bedrooms” — if they decided to.

As for the casino, Schneiderman said he expressed “dire concerns” about the traffic such a use would generate. “I’m opposed to it,” Thiele said, pointing to the “traffic nightmare” it could mean. He said he hopes the tribe will continue to look at land farther west for a casino instead. A license for a Las Vegas-style casino through the state might work for a site elsewhere — Thiele said he’s trying to encourage that.

Schneiderman approached the nation about selling the Westwoods land for preservation and said the answer was “absolutely not.”

Reached for comment on Tuesday, Shinnecock Nation Chairman Bryan Polite said the tribal leadership is willing to meet with neighbors. “We’re always open to hearing their concerns.”

Asked at the outset of the meeting whether state, county and town entities work together to coordinate traffic management, Schneiderman said they often do. Roads in Southampton are an amalgam of thoroughfares owned by differing units. “You may not know when you’re going from a state road to a county road to a town road,” he said.

While Main Street/Montauk Highway, which is a county road, needed resurfacing, Thiele said he was able to procure state funding for the work. Asked if he could do the same again for the pothole-ridden eastern section of the road, he said he’d do so if he received a request from county officials. “If they ask for money, we try to help,” he said.

Hillman said the resurfacing was included as part of a delayed project on the Long Island Rail Road bridge. He said it may be scheduled for 2023 or 2024.

Another audience member wondered if the town could put weight limits on trucks using Main Street for through traffic to points east. Hillman explained that county roads are meant to connect local roads with state roads, so you’d rarely see weight restrictions on them.

Could Main Street be reconfigured to accommodate wider sidewalks or bike lanes? webinar participants wondered. Schneiderman noted the wider walks were part of the Downtown Overlay District that’s currently the subject of litigation, while McArdle said he’s working with Councilman Rick Martel on a plan that includes “multi-use lanes.” They’re researching a route from Main Street, down Ponquogue Avenue to the Ponquogue Bridge, using both bike lanes and sidewalks as well. “That’s a project we have a handle on right now,” he said.

Speaking to commuter traffic travail, Schneiderman noted the blinking light project on Montauk Highway at Canoe Place Road is very challenging to implement due to the staffing it needs. It does make a fundamental difference in the morning commute, he said. The supervisor is hoping the county would consider making changes to automate the light. “The public keeps demanding it,” he said. A dedicated right turning lane was also suggested.

Schneiderman said he’d like to blink additional lights at St. Andrew’s Road and Montauk Highway as well as the one on Montauk Highway in Water Mill. But the State DOT has been reluctant to consider pilot blinking projects, he said.

Looking a little farther east, McArdle favors a pilot program to do away with the left-hand turn prohibition onto Shrubland Road off County Road 39. He believes the prohibition sends drivers to Hampton Bays, causing traffic backups on County Road 39.

Asked about congestion pricing, Thiele responded to the idea of turning Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway into toll roads. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” he said. Greater public transit is the way to put the biggest dent in the traffic, he said.

“We’re not going to solve the traffic issues — there’s going to be traffic, it’s going to be frustrating,” Schneiderman summarized as the session drew to a close. You don’t want to compromise the rural character of the South Fork and by building a giant highway, he said.

“We had the beginnings of a discussion of all of this, but that’s what it is, the beginning,” Thiele said. “We’re going to need new and creative solutions, and we need to keep plugging along.”

Hoping the lawmakers reach out to each other to pursue solutions, Hults said, “We’re clearly a community in great distress.”